Posted by
Secessionist on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 4:28:07 AM
What is America? What do people mean when they say America? Strictly speaking, it's simply a geographical designation for a vast expanse of land. But people talk of the US as if it is a single nation.
Well, I think that is confusing the word, "nation", with the word, "government". Yes there's a single government with jurisdiction over a vast expanse of land. But for the US to be a nation the entire population would have to be homogeneous. By homogeneous I mean having the same language, same religion, and the same history - with most of the people able to trace their families back to the colonial period. Obviously then, the United States of America is not nation but instead a central government ruling over a multitude of nations living in the 50 states.
Assuming for the moment that there is such a thing as an American nation, what does it mean to be a patriotic American? When asked folks will answer with abstract concepts about freedom or democracy but they will never talk, for example, about how their families have lived here for generations or how they live close to the church where their parents married. Never talking about concrete realities, they prefer vague abstractions like "freedom" or "the right to vote" and claim that's what it means to be patriotic.
Which means patriotism to them is just an ideology like capitalism, communism, etc. Actually, patriotism is derived from patria - a Latin word meaning fatherland. (Patria itself is related to pater which means father). I think a patriotic person is one who loves the particular land where his ancestors lived and died and who lives among people with similar roots. A patriot is not someone who subscribes to the same abstract philosophy of government (democracy, for example) as everyone else he lives among. To hell with ideologies!